A 70-year-old American national will face trial after he was charged by the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office with allegedly detaining his 16-year-old girlfriend.
Assistant City Prosecutor Liceria Rabillas found enough evidence to indict Manolito Farrales with serious illegal detention, which is a violation under the Revised Penal Code.
No bail was set for the accused, who was arrested last Nov. 27 by the police. He opted not to undergo preliminary investigation.
Rabillas, in her resolution, said the accused detained the minor by not allowing her to go outside his residence alone and without him to accompany her.
The sexual abuse case against Farrales was submitted by Rabillas for preliminary investigation, giving the accused time to answer the allegations in writing.
Victim Venny (real name withheld), in her sworn statement, said she was allegedly deprived of her liberty after Farrales returned to Cebu from the US last Aug. 28.
She said Farrales suspected her of having a sexual relationship with his driver.
The minor said she knew the accused because the latter was his father’s employer.
Venny was Farrales’s house help.
Father
Venny said her father asked her to go to Cebu City in 2011 to help him clean the American’s house.
Since then, the victim started living in Farrales’s residence in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City .
Venny said her older sister and Farrales were in a relationship, which ended in 2012.
Three days after the breakup, Venny said, Farrales courted her through text and she accepted him as her boyfriend. The accused was in America that time.
Farrales returned to the Philippines last year.
Venny said the accused would always feel jealous. She said the foreigner harmed and threatened her.
She tried to escape Farrales’s house because her brother watched her.
Last Nov. 27, the minor and Farrales went to Punta Princesa Police Station to lodge a complaint against the foreigner’s driver who allegedly raped her.
She told investigators that Farrales was afraid his driver would come back for her after the foreigner went back to America.
During the investigation, Venny narrated her alleged ordeal in the hands of the Farrales. The police later arrested Farrales.